1904.1 HAUPT— THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER PROBLEM. 95 



buffer to divide and deflect the energy into lateral components, 

 which are again^ subdivided indefinitely, as shown in the typical 

 forms of the deposits at Cubit's Gap ; whereas when supported and 

 concentrated by the continuous reaction of a properly placed resist- 

 ing medium, the activity of the currents thus generated will prevent 

 deposits near the trace of the work and create a neutral zone or 

 counterscarp at some distance therefrom, which will thus become 

 the site for the dump. These features may be observed wherever 

 there are obstacles placed in the path of a current. The best arti- 

 ficial illustration of the efficacy of this principle as applied to a 

 tidal inlet with a feeble tide, is to be found at Aransas Pass, Tex. 



The lowering of the flood plain by the removal of the barriers to 

 the longitudinal discharge is also well illustrated by the operations 

 on the River Tyne in England, where the flood heights have been 

 reduced from nine to three feet along the stream by the opening 

 of the mouth and removal of the bars from the bed. 



Regardless, therefore, of the interests of navigation, it would be of 

 great benefit to the State and nation to open the mouths of all the 

 Passes for drainage and reclamation purposes, and by the use of the 

 proper form of tool this could be accomplished more eflectively and 

 at less cost than by the methods now in vogue at the mouths of 

 sedimentary rivers. 



In the foregoing analysis it has been the intention to lay particu- 

 lar stress upon the necessity of so regulating the movements of the 

 sediment as to prevent its being deposited in the pathway of the 

 stream, where it may operate to obstruct its flow, causing elevation 

 of bed, banks, levees and greater risks and expense; for it is evi- 

 dent that so long as the commingled earth and water are confined 

 to the channel with no avenues of escape, the deposits must engorge 

 the bed and involve continuous danger and expense. 



It would seem that the attention of the engineering profession 

 has been focussed mainly upon the control of the water, apart from 

 its sediment, and with secondary consideration to the evils result- 

 ing from failure to separate these two elements, which, it is. 

 believed, may be done to great advantage at a number of points en 

 route where lands may be reclaimed by the natural process of 

 hydraulic grading, and large tracts of the richest arable land be 

 recovered in a comparatively short time at a cost which will be 

 insignificant as compared with that required to grade and drain it 

 by mechanical means. 



